FINANCIAL CHRONICLE – The Sri Lankan cabinet has given the green light to a proposal aimed at accelerating urban modernization and branding initiatives in selected towns, including the president’s native Thambuttegama, with an investment of 1.475 billion rupees.
This initiative, known as the 10 Cities Development Program, is designed to implement a data-driven strategy for urban enhancement nationwide, comprising 217 prioritized projects, as reported by Minister Nalinda Jayatissa during a press briefing.
The projects will be executed in various locations, including Jaffna, Matale, Hatton, Batticaloa, Chilaw, Thambuttegama, Vavuniya, Eheliyagoda, Badulla, and Matara. However, the criteria for choosing these specific areas were not disclosed.
The approved budget includes 500 million rupees that had previously been allocated for urban development within the budget framework. Additionally, the 2026 budget has earmarked 1.3 billion rupees for the Ministry of Transport, Highways, and Urban Development to enhance and rebrand cities such as Anuradhapura, Kataragama, Colombo, and Kandy, with 325 million rupees designated for expenditure this year.
Minister Jayatissa emphasized the government’s objective of establishing distinct identities for these urban areas to draw in visitors. “Creating a unique identity for cities is a globally acknowledged practice when it comes to attracting both domestic and international tourists. This is fundamentally what branding entails,” he remarked.
He further clarified that the program does not aim to standardize the appearance of every city. Instead, the focus will be on tailoring development projects to reflect the unique attributes of each city. “This does not imply that Anuradhapura, Colombo, Matara, and Trincomalee will be developed in a uniform fashion. The goal is to implement development strategies that take into account the distinctive characteristics of each city,” Jayatissa noted.
The Ministry of Transport, Highways, and Urban Development will collaborate with various ministries and state agencies to effectively execute the comprehensive plan across all ten cities, he added.
